What is a head of household?

Author's Note

I admit, up until the minute I began researching this article, I had no idea what it meant to qualify as a head of household for tax purposes. I'm so dense, all I could ever picture was a giant head floating above a house. But now it sort of makes sense. Yes, the IRS should charge a lower income tax rate to people who are burdened with supporting a child or other relative on their own. The next time I'm tempted to complain about the "married filing jointly" tax rate, I'll be more thankful that I have a spouse that supports me in many more ways than financially.